Minor burns, if you are ever around anything hot, sooner or later you will get burned.
Good and bad cooks alike have had altercations with a hot stove, the stove always wins.
I steam press small pieces of fabric for my quilting projects, so my iron is my nemesis, and I have the scars to prove it. I have tried several home remedies and over the counter ointments for these minor burns. Some worked OK, some didn’t appear to do anything for my burn.
I before I go further to tell of useful, and useless, home remedies, let’s first define minor burn.
Burns have varying degrees of severity, based upon the severity of skin damage. There is first degree burns, that only damages the first layer of skin, which are the minor burns that I am speaking about. There is second degree burns, which is a deeper, thicker burn with blisters. Second degree burns usually require medical attention. Lastly there is third degree burns, which causes damage to all the skin layers and will definitely require medical attention.
Now let’s talk about home remedies for these everyday minor burns. What will give us relief from the pain, prevent infection, and help reduce the possibility of a scar? It is not pinching your ear lobe, nor applying an onion slice to the burn. While the coolness of an onion slice would feel like it was working at first, in reality anything cool would give that same momentary relief. That is why some folks put an egg white, mustard or dish washing liquid on a burn, to stop the burning. Those things do nothing to promote healing and preventing infection.
We have all heard about putting ice or butter on a burn, these are both big No-No’s. Putting ice on a burn is causing more damage to the skin cells. The contrast between the extreme hot and extreme cold will further damage the skin tissue. However, running cold water immediately over the burn will lower the skin temperature to help prevent any more damage to the skin tissue.
Butter your bread, not your burns. the salt content in the butter will increase the heat of the burn, causing even more damage to the skin tissue. The fat in the butter will invite bacteria.
Good things to put on a minor burn is-Vitamin E-it reduces inflammation and promotes healing. Vitamin E oil, or just pop open a Vitamin E capsule and apply the oil to the burn.
Aloe Vera-if you have an Aloe Vera plant, just snap off a section and squeeze the plant’s juice onto the burn. Aloe Vera gel can be purchased also. Aloe Vera will penetrate the skin quickly, relieves pain, reduces inflammation and promotes healing.
The number one remedy for a minor burn is HONEY. You probably have it in your kitchen pantry right now. Honey, applied directly to the burn, will cool the burn, act as a barrier between the burn and bacteria, it also promotes healing and reduces scarring.
Honey, major treatment for minor burns.
